Associate Resource Group Spotlight: Green Team

We are thrilled to introduce our Green Team, an associate resource group (ARG) dedicated to promoting green and environmentally friendly practices within the organization. Their mission is to promote sustainable business practices across the Navitus enterprise through associate education and engagement.

The Green Team believes that small changes lead to significant impact. Whether its reducing waste, conserving energy or implementing eco-friendly initiatives, they serve as an internal hub for expertise regarding environmental sustainability.

The team has experienced significant growth since their 2020 initiation, and they have expanded to now include subcommittees for recycling, highway cleanups, internal educational campaigns, electric vehicle charging and more.

“I’ve been involved with the Green Team since the very beginning,” said Amy Albers, Co-chair of Technology for the Green Team. “We started in 2020, right before the pandemic hit, which made the first few years a little interesting as far as coming up with events to do.” Amy is also a part of several Green Team sub-committees. She recently assisted with the installation of compost bins at the Navitus Phoenix campus, and the group plans to extend this work to all Navitus campuses.

“There are different layers to my favorite parts of the group,” said Green Team member, Leigh Langford. “Because it is hard to build relationships in a virtual environment, and I’ve certainly appreciated the relationships that I have built with folks in the Green Team. It’s very much a presence in our life and our unsung hero. Being connected to the environment and feeling involved in all these different capacities helps me to be more expansive.” Leigh participates in highway cleanups three times a year for the Madison campus, where team members convene to clean up Wisconsin roadways.

The group hosts highway cleanups in Madison, Appleton and Scottsdale several times each year, and encourage remote colleagues to become involved with their local communities. “It’s been a nice space for building an internal community, especially working remotely,” Leigh added.

“I joined the group to create belonging within the enterprise as a remote associate. This has opened doors for streamlined communication, fostering a cross-departmental, collaborative community,” commented Michael Gerlach, Co-chair of Communications for the Green Team. “The Green Team has their own internal site to create alternative venues to share ideas. Every member, whether entry-level or a leader, can engage and contribute, ensuring all associates have a voice.”

Elyse Schrieber received the most votes for her room that brings the outdoors indoors.

The Green Team engages the broader organization with games and contests throughout the year to drive awareness of green practices, like their Green Thumb contest, where associates submit photos of their indoor plants to vote on who has the most impressive at-home garden. Last year’s winner was self-proclaimed, chronic plant mom Elyse Schrieber, a Sales analyst.

Each fall, the Green Team hosts a Fruits of Your Labor competition for associates. Those who kept a garden over the summer submit photos of the food they’ve carefully cultivated, and associates voted for who had the best harvest.

The Green Team also hosts a community impact month every year, where they partner with a charity to influence positive change in communities. Last year, they supported the Alliance of Nurses for Health Environments to demonstrate their commitment to health and sustainability.

The Green Team continues to grow additional opportunities for corporate social responsibility, and we are excited by their longer-range goals and projects across all campus locations, including:

• An end to purchasing single-use plastic utensils and water bottles, eliminating waste for all meetings and business events that take place on campus
• Acquisition of eco-friendly office supplies and setting up green purchasing policies
• Conception, installation and monitoring of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations
• Significant promotion of recycling and composting
• Community cleanup through Adopt-a-Highway sponsorship

Through these initiatives, the Green Team ARG at Navitus Health Solutions has continued to achieve significant outcomes in sustainability, associate engagement and community impact, solidifying their roles as leaders in promoting environmental stewardship.

Interested in learning more about the Green Team’s journey? Email [email protected].